If the bee disappears from the surface of the globe, man would have no more than four years to live. ~Albert Einstein (attributed)

In this digital age, does anyone really read magazines? I mean the real deal. I do! Now let’s not get silly, anyone who knows me, knows I love my books, the real printed pages of complete escapes into other worlds, yet I mostly read magazines and newspapers online. That is until I had to use up some frequent flyer miles and chose to order a few magazines. Among my mix, Money, Inc., Entrepreneur, Entertainment, Fortune and Time. Do I read them? You bet I do! Why not, there is a lot of information in those pages. Do I actually read the articles? Yes I do! Now granted, sometimes they pile up until I have the opportunity to address the piled stacks of printed pages, but I really truly try to give them attention. Some articles interest me more than others but I do at least skim through those pieces.

Recently, I got Kyle into reading a few found articles. One was the Auntie Anne’s franchise, since Kyle is such a fan of the soft pretzels. It told of how one women created herself an empire, starting off at the farmers market with her little idea. He loved it!

I also had Kyle read a few articles in Fortune about the Apple company. He loves their products and was very interested to hear about any new technologies, how the company is doing and such. Pretty cool coming from a twelve year old.

Anyway, why my dissertation on magazine articles? Simply because I came across one that I found so interesting, I couldn’t just let it go. It was in the August issue of Time magazine. It was an article on honeybees and their demise. This article was pretty thorough and I found it very intriguing, maybe because I am a fan of honey, as is the rest of my family, especially Kyle. Dad loves to get the honeycomb and eat it.

Years ago I read an article that stated, when consuming honey over long periods of time, it was said to decrease allergies. Since then, Kyle has held that near and dear to his heart. So when any one of us gets sick or seems to be filling the effects of seasonal allergens, Kyle becomes the honey pusher. Literally! Once he made me a bowl of oatmeal and there was so much honey in it, I swear he invited an entire hive to stop by and regurgitate into my bowl. Love that kid!

According to Hannah Nordhaus “Honeybees are the glue that holds our agricultural system together.” I hope you enjoy this information as much as I did. It was pretty much taken directly from the article. Enjoy!

Random Fun Facts: Bees

Bee History

Bees are not a natural resident to North America

17th century bees were imported to the continent

The oldest known honeybee specimen dates from 100 million years ago

During the 17th century, Ian Swammerdam discovered that the king bee had ovaries and was in fact a queen

In 1923, Rudolf Steiner, a scientist predicted that within 100 years artificial cultivation of honeybees would have a sever consequence on the bee population

There’s an Institute of Bee Health at the University of Bern in Switzerland

Honeybee, also known as Apis Mellifera

There are more than 20,000 species of bees worldwide, only 6 main types are kept commercially (Italian, Russian, Carniolan, Caucasian, German, Buckfast)